We tackled a Tower!!

Adventurer's Campsite from Monster Menagerie 2

 

Today I want to talk a little bit about one of my favorite case incentives for Dungeons and Dragons Icon of the Realms miniatures, the Adventurer’s Campsite. This fully painted campsite was a part of Monster Menagerie 2, which came out in January of 2017 as the sixth set of 5^th edition Dungeons and Dragons miniature lines. What once were called case incentives are now known as premium figures, removing the need to buy an entire case to get the privilege to buy an expensive miniature. They also released most of this set as a Nolzur's Marvelous Unpainted Minis: W4 Adventurer's Campsite but it did not come with the same exact parts, causing some confusion. 

For me the biggest asset was Ezmerelda’s Wagon, most of my parties acquire a wagon early on in their adventures and finally having a model for it was rather awesome. The set also comes with all the things you would want for setting up a camp encounter for you party. Two small camp fires, two kegs, three treasure chests, two sack piles, three bedrolls, two horses, two weapon racks, three back packs, two bags of holding, two spell books and spell scrolls, and a cooking pot all came with the wagon.

A great way of using this set is having your party set up their camp site by placing the different things on the battle map and place where their characters are sitting for watch. This can help players visualize the scene even if there is not a combat. It works in a similar way as setting the miniatures out in marching order so everyone will have an idea of where they are standing when a trap goes off or they are ambushed. You can even use the models from this set to place around your dungeons or caverns if the party finds abandoned camp sites from other adventurers who had to leave in a hurry. I have used the chests and kegs to help fill out a few of my tavern scenes as well.

 Thank you for checking out the blog, if you would like to help me make cool things check out my patreon  https://www.patreon.com/user?u=53549880

Original box with components

Closer look at the smaller parts

Some books I like that changed my life in subtle ways

Greetings fellow readers and friends! I have decided to just make a short write up about a few of my all-time favorites books. There are many other books I am overly enthusiastic about but will be written up later.

Name of the Wind, by Patrick Rothfuss. If we have talked in a book store or even at a party, I have most likely talked to you about this book. Brief spoiler free talk up that will sound familiar “A hero gives up on the life of adventuring, fakes his own death, and now owns a bar. People come in telling stories about his life getting most of the details wrong until a traveling story teller gets him to tell the true story about what really happened, all his great triumphs as well as his horrible failures that still torture him.” I first heard about and started reading this book back in 2008 and I fell in love with it. It is the best thing I have read since Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings. When I worked at a book place I hand sold over seven hundred copies and still to this day try to spread the good word. We are graced with a second book entitled The Wise Man’s Fear as well as a novella, The Slow Regard of Silent Things. We are waiting on a book three, I feel we are not a world deserving of a book three yet. His books have gotten me out of a few dark spells over the years, they have helped me cope with loss and disappointment. Please check out his Worldbuilders website where geeks can help do go in this world. https://worldbuilders.org/

Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone, by J.K. Rowling. I was bribed into reading this series as a young adult because I was dumb. My folks bought me book one and within the first chapter I was sold on the series. At that time book four was slated for release in a month or so and I caught up quickly. One of the hardest parts of any series is the wait and with each book the wait felt somehow more painful, with each character loss or the pain of youth being destroyed we would crave the next book. I benefit from these books, I resemble the main character which has helped start many amazing adventures and conversations over the years. It is hard to believe that it is the twentieth anniversary of the publication of Sorcerers Stone. If you have not seen the new covers please check them out. Books one, four, and seven are my favorites. Sorcerers Stone is our, and Harry’s, introduction to the wizarding world, Goblet of Fire had the Triwizard tournament and the awesome hedge labyrinth at the end and horrible heartbreak, and Deathly Hallows gave us resolution to many of the questions that haunted us for years. When Deathly Hallows came out I was working as a kiln technician at a summer camp and read the book in ten hours the night it came out so the campers would not ruin anything for me. Ok, rambling, if you like wizards and have ever wanted to do magic, read these books. The movies are great in their own ways but you miss out on so much if you don’t read the books at least once. I also enjoyed the Cursed Child book, after a few chapters the play format breezed by and it was like visiting old friends you think about often but are too awkward to talk too after all this time.

Jurassic Park, by Michael Crichton. When the movie came out I was in third grade and I went with my dad to see it in theatres. As a bit of context, I liked dinosaurs and wanted to sit close to the screen. I had never really watched scary movies at this point either being much younger. I was terrified and curled up in a ball in the seat, there may have been tears. Eventually my dad and I left after the Dilophosaurus ate that guy from Seinfeld, lesson learned. A few months later we went back and were able to see the full movie. In fourth grade my grandfather on my dad’s side passed away suddenly and we were up north for a few days and the only movie we brought with was Jurassic Park, which I must have watched over ten times. I knew the movie pretty well by that point. My dad had read the book so he passed it on to me, so there I was at ten years of age reading Jurassic Park in my after-school day care program, fully immersed. I ended up reading it about six times over the next few years as well as the Lost World. There were cool parts they had left out of the movie and ended up recycling for other movies, which was fine. I loved the books and did not get back to kid’s books for a few years. I also wrote a few letters to Steven Spielberg recommending dinosaurs he should use in the movies and got a response thanking me for my contributions from his desk. Dinosaurs always will spark a flame in my heart, and these books helped.

Practical Demon Keeper, by Christopher Moore. This book I read again while very young, maybe fifth or sixth grade. The story revolves around a demon and its accidental conjurer traveling to a small town in California. The Conjurer is trying to find a way to dispose of his demon and chaos and blood shed ensues. I loved the use of mythology and humor mixed in with the brutality of a demon eating helpless mortals. I still have to read his other novels but I really enjoyed the references to King Solomon and other myths.

Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien. I had seen bits of the old Rankin-Bass movies growing up but had very little memory of their contents, I had only seen them during a migraine when I was seven or eight. Back before the live action movies came out I decided to check out the books, borrowing my dad’s box set of paperbacks. Over two days in the summer I read the hobbit, learning all about Bilbo and his ring, the giant eagles, and Gandalf with his Odin like wisdom, I was in love with this book. I started reading Lord of the Rings in high school and ruined them in my backpack. They each took a bit longer to read than the Hobbit but were just as fantastic. Each study hall I would sit down and delve into a world with elves, dwarves, hobbits, and trolls in the epic battle of good versus evil. Being a tiny person, I loved that hobbits were relevant in a world of men and monsters and the fate of everything hung in the balance based on their success or failure. I had the chance to see Tolkien’s original notes at the Haggerty Museum here in Milwaukee when they had it on display, it turns out Tolkien had sold the notes to the university. It was awesome, he had charts showing where each character was in every scene even if they weren’t mentioned, drawings of locations, alternate passages, I was in lore heaven. Since then I read the Silmarillion and a few of the books his son has been releasing such as the Children of Hurin and other books released by other authors, like Tolkien’s Ring by David Day. His world was rich in lore and myth and I hope to continue reading about it for years to come. Hobbit will always have a special place in my heart, and for my four years of college it was my nickname. I love both the Lord of the Rings films, the animated films for the Hobbit and Return of the King, and the strange Lord of the Rings film with the rotoscope animation as well as the books. The Hobbit movies were a bit much but I still enjoyed them, they explored lore that was just suggested and built upon it. The book takes me about four hours, the movies nine. Without these books modern fantasy would not be what it is now, most of the authors out there have been influenced in some way by the story of the one ring, which in itself is influenced by Nordic mythology.

Children of Odin, by Padraic Colum. This was the best source of simple and quick Norse mythology and folk tales for many audiences and one of my favorite ways to introduce people to the world of Thor and Loki. It covers everything from the death of Ymir, the giant and the creation of the worlds to Ragnarok, the twilight of the gods. When anyone has questions about Norse myth this is my go to book, and now Neil Gaiman has come out with his own Norse Mythology book which I try to pair with Children of Odin to give two different accounts of the stories. Gaiman has a way of humanizing the gods and monsters in fantastic ways.

American Gods, by Neil Gaiman. Shadow Moon ends up encountering mythology in very close and personal ways. Tragedy strikes at home and Shadow has been let out of prison early. He meets a strange man named Mr. Wednesday who offers him a job, to be his man, more driver and bodyguard on the road. It features the old gods in a slow war with the gods of the modern age, technology and the like. This was the first book since Name of the Wind that caused me to lose myself completely to the text. Words danced before me and I was gone. As an amateur folklore and mythology specialist, this book felt like it was written for me to devour, characters I knew made me gleeful, and new characters I did not know sent me to my mythology shelf to research and yes, I have a mythology shelf, it is next to my art shelf. Being from Wisconsin I was excited for them to go to House on the Rock, a strange tourist stop full of oddities such as a giant whale fighting a squid and a carousel you are not allowed to ride. The show they made is pretty cool too, I enjoy the castings for everyone and it is neat to see more from characters in the background of the book.

Crystal Shard, by R. A. Salvatore. This was my introduction to the world of Dungeons and Dragons and the Forgotten Realms. Drizzt, a dark elf escaped from his terrible homeland helps the surface folk fight against a mad wizard and his crystal death star full of monsters and death. In this introduction story we meet the young barbarian Wulfgar, who ends up indentured to the dwarves after his people’s failed attack on Ten-Towns, Bruenor the dwarf leader of the region takes him under his wings as a ward. Bruenor’s other ward is Cattie-Brie, a human girl he has also raised. Cattie-Brie uses archery to defeat her foes. They are joined by Regis, a halfling that rather be fishing than adventuring but has a shadowy past and a magic amulet of persuasion. Drizzt is a drow, a dark elf from deep underground. He is a ranger, duel wielding cruel scimitars and accompanied by a magic panther named Guenhwyvar that he could summon with a figurine he had. With his friends Drizzt would topple tyrants, kill demons, anger the minions of the spider queen, mourn friends both new and old lost, and deal with the past he had hoped to leave behind. I had found these books in the Sci Fi book club and ended up with the entire Icewind Dale trilogy in one book. So began the madness of devouring novels. There are currently thirty-six novels books about Drizzt and his friends as well as a few spin off books about his one time rival as well as the Cleric Quintet. R.A. Salvatore has hurt me over the years but what he does is justified, without trauma or loss these characters would not change or evolve into what they become. I had thought that his title Hero was the last book, but it looks like we will be getting more Drizzt. I enjoyed these books almost to an unhealthy level, each one I would devour in about four hours and then the pining for the next one would begin. A few of the storylines would get repetitive, Drizzt is really good at killing orcs, but there was never a time I gave up on them. If you are going to start the series there are two good places. Crystal Shard was written first and after the fact Homeland, Exile, and Sojourn were written to show where Drizzt came from. I tell most readers to start with Homeland, but Crystal Shard was a bit more exciting of a read for me. i have fallen off the horse a bit and now have to catch up with the last three books now that they are making a video game where you get to play as four of the heroes as well as a drow lullaby narrated by Benedict Cumberbatch. 

Lightning Thief, by Rick Riordan. Lightning Thief is about a young boy, Percy Jackson. He has difficulty in school with reading and attention spans, but as it turns out, his brain is hardwired for both ancient Greek and combat. He is the son of one of the Greek gods, and quickly in the series you figure out which. In book one we find out someone has stolen the lightning bolt of Zeus, his master bolt, and he will go to war with the entire world if it is not returned. Percy and his friends Annabeth, a daughter of Athena, and Grover, a satyr protector of demigods, must travel across the land trying to find the bolt and clues on how to save their friends. The first set of books are the Percy Jackson and the Olympian series: Lightning Thief, Sea of Monsters, Titans Curse, Battle of the Labyrinth, and the Last Olympian follow Percy and his friends in their quest to prevent the end of the gods and mortals. These five books were amazing on their own, and Rick Riordan decided to write more expanding on myth. The Heroes of Olympus series features characters that survived the first series as well as a whole new camp of demigods, hidden away from the Greek camp. It seems there is a Roman camp on the other side of the united states that had no idea of the Greek camp. In this arc we meet Jason, a boy with no memory of where he came from but knows all the Roman names of the gods. He ends up in camp Half-blood with Piper, a girl he might be dating, and Leo, a young man who can build things and can control fire. They find out there is a prophecy that will need seven heroes to save the day. The second book starts with this strange boy named Percy, stricken with a loss of memory that only knows one thing, a girl named Annabeth is probably pissed. He ends up at the Roman camp and receives a similar prophecy. The Heroes of Olympus series is as follows: Lost Hero, Son of Neptune, Mark of Athena, House of Hades, and The Blood of Olympus. There were parts in these books that have destroyed me. He is continuing the Greek and Roman stories now with the Trials of Apollo, the Hidden Oracle, the Dark Prophecy, the Burning Maze, and Tyrants’ Tomb. Apollo has been struck down from the heavens for something that happened in the Blood of Olympus and now is a mortal teenager, Lester Papadopoulos, now forced to gain his divinity back by freeing the oracles that have been hidden away from the world by an evil organization bent on domination.

He has also written a series about the Norse gods called Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard: The Sword of Summer, the Hammer of Thor, and the Ship of the Dead which all feature a young boy named Magnus trying to stop Ragnarok with the help of a mute elf, a fashion sensible dwarf, and a young Muslim American girl that wants to be a pilot that also happens to be a Valkyrie, we also meet Sam, a kid that is gender fluid, Sam rocks. He also wrote the Kane Chronicles: The Red Pyramid, Throne of Fire, and the Serpent’s Shadow. Carter and Sadie are forced to save the world with the help of Egyptian gods that must possess human hosts to interact with the world. These all are fun series for getting young adults into mythology, some of the myths are edited for content reasons but still live up to the amazingness that is mythology. Rick Riordan has also been working on getting more children of all ethnic backgrounds and sexual orientations in his books. Inclusion is important for these young readers. These books are about accepting who you are and what you came from as well as making your own story. Looking back at the world mythologies, the heroes were from all walks of life, it did not matter if you were old or young, blind or had a gimp leg, everyone has a purpose and a destiny.

Game of Thrones, by George R.R. Martin. Game of Thrones is frustrating and amazing. There is so much to it, so much left out of what we experience in both the shows and the book. We are five books in and seven seasons of the show. The first book I read over the course of a year, getting most of it spoiled along the way, the danger of working in a retail environment. I made sure to work my way quickly through the rest of them, reading the Dance with Dragons in less than a week. Game of Thrones is successful for many reasons, as opposed to the farmer rising up to defeat the tyrant which is many of the fantasy tales we hear, this is nobles backstabbing and burning each other to the ground with their ambitions and treachery. We get mythical beings mentioned in the first scenes that most of the realms think are just stories or fairytales but are actual threats to the Seven Kingdoms, they take a while but are still coming for the south. We eventually get dragons, the exiled princess sold of to the barbaric horse riders in a distant land rises to be the queen of her people and lead them to victory. Characters we get attached too die suddenly, leaving voids in our hearts. We don’t learn, we fall for the next awesome character until they crushed by a mountain. Everyone jokes about the writing of the books and complains about it taking so long to come out. I casually remind people book one came out in 1996, we are in for a wait and the more you bother the author, the longer this is going to take. The show has done a marvelous job adapting the thousands of pages of books into the show, yes characters have been left out or killed off too early. It is a rare thing to see people get this excited and worked up about something in geek culture. The show has gotten millions of people to go out and buy the books in a genre they might have never picked up before. They are not simple reads either, each book is at least nine hundred pages depending on the binding you pick up. After reading so much of Martin I do feel every other book to be a quick read, even when nothing happens for a few hundred pages, I have gotten used to it. And even in the pages where it feels like nothing is happening there are small moments that if missed leave you in the dark to the next big thing on the horizon. Conversations between characters in one chapter can lead to entire families getting wiped out later on. I would also recommend checking out the short story book, Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, it follows a knight and his squire navigating the political landscape of Targaryen rule years before the Game of Thrones series takes place. It is an illustrated book with three short stories bordering on novellas.

Heir to the Empire, by Timothy Zhan. This was my first adult Star Wars books. I had read many of the Young Jedi Knights books with Jacen and Jaina and young Anikin Solo, which would haunt me later on. Heir to the Empire was the introduction to my favorite once cannon, then not cannon, and now cannon again villain, Grand Admiral Thrawn. He studied the art of the Empire’s enemies and would figure out their weakness. He was intimidating and cool at the same time. He drew together the factions of the Empire after the battle of Endor and was using clones again to fill out the ranks of troopers to help combat the New Republic and their forces. Luke was doing his Jedi things again and was losing touch with the spirit of Obi-Wan Kenobi. Leia was pregnant with the twins and being attacked by assassins left and right leading to a cool moment where she was called “Daughter of Vader”. The assassins had worked for Vader and reconized his scent. She went with them and helped their people fix their broken world and gained some protection for herself. The Thrawn series was amazing. There was a Sith named Joruus C'baoth, we meet Mara Jade who became very important for many reasons. This trilogy started me on the path of reading many of the Star Wars novels, which was exclusive to about four years. I read almost half the catalogue except for the X-Wing books and a few others. I loved the New Jedi Order books and still hurt from Vector Prime, I enjoyed having a foe that was absent in the force. I was very excited to see them bring Thrawn back in the Rebels show and it was excellent.

Keep on the Borderlands, by Gary Gygax. This was the first Dungeons and Dragons adventure I ever read through, I felt it needed mentioning, being the gateway to the twist my life has taken, trying to write and hopefully eventually publish a campaign world. I am in my twentieth year playing Dungeons and Dragons, most of it I have spent running the game as the dungeon master, leading parties of adventurers through challenges both great and deadly. The times I was able to play as a character have spawned stories that I will tell for years to come, from the Robank’s Avengers meeting an untimely end in a vampire lair, to Robank, my dwarven bard getting killed by a fear spell and haunting his axe until the party could reincarnate him, to Kannorack my changeling warmage/beguiler/bard, Rakomon Teledonde Orta my dusk blade cursed human with a drastic skin condition, and Drogo my tiefling gold dragon blooded sorcerer that just wanted to flirt with mermaids. I have played around fifty different characters over the years and have run eighteen campaigns, seven of which officially finished, the others either the group moved on or life changed or is still in progress.

Lon Lethen Teaser

 

Lon Lethen

A few of my players are familiar with this terrifying creature! For more information check out my new Patreon https://www.patreon.com/user?u=53549880

Upon a Dark Place Session 19

          Great Halibar’s ghost! Confusion started our session. It turned out Ochranna’s Anvil had somehow managed to snag a soul, unfortunately it was Lord Halibar Nel Daxis Aldrabriane, the party’s long deceased cambion employer and old ruler of Hafbuilt before it was destroyed. The act of his death at the hands of the red dragon Kaismir and their brain devouring ally left his soul adrift and the party’s use of speak with dead on his remains threw off the resurrection cycle just enough for there to be some oddities. Zamira wanted to stab him but his audible confusion made her pause. For him, only a moment or two had passed while actual months of time had passed. He asked about the big gem and the scroll they were supposed to give to the ally of his in the empty city, they told him the dragon had “left town” and Wilbur pulled out his giant dragon claw he had taken from her corpse. They gave him the briefest rundown of what had happened over the last few months and he informed them he owned Ochranna a huge favor for carving out Halfbuilt for him, which is why he was possibly now their spirit guide.

The group brought up the formless and Lord Halibar told them that with the use of the now haunted anvil they could craft Soul Urns for fighting the formless, but certain items would be needed for their construction. Udaren black clay, Spark Adamantine, Mithril netting, the heart of a Sladd, and silver from the astral sea. The clay was the major component while the other parts are the focusing apparatus to guide the magic into the vessels and seal it away. Bastion has the ability to cast planeshift, so a few of the otherworldly components should be able to be gained with it. The concern was the Mithril Netting, which seemed to be in Stormcroak, the home of the potentially cannibalistic frogmen with a town so great, you never want to leave. They also were informed that his structure was a large artifact as well, it could be magically shrunk down to be pocket size, it would just take ten minutes. While the group was discussing options their wizard friend saw someone running in the tunnels outside the church.

Outside a new character burst into the scene, while being chased by monsters made by the formless of course. Brandt had sent his eidolon Baz ahead to find a safe path but had lost sight of him and numerous creatures crafted by the formless were at his heels. He and his allies had been sent to observe a potential threat beneath the surface and were overwhelmed by the “Flesh Stitcher” or as the party knew him, the Patchwork Man. Brandt yelled to the stunned looking drow in the church entrance to hold them off for a minute and ran into the church past him.

The party turned to see a non-assuming man with silver and white hair and light armor running into the church with Eldzar at his heels, both claiming there were formless monsters in the corridor. The group saw indeed what looked to be giant sewn together bodies cramming their way into the doorway. They party jumped into action, Bastion using wrathful mantle, illuminating the party and giving everyone a bonus on saving throws, but luckily got this up before combat truly started. Cecil ran up to the first monster and took a big swing with Kneecappa, his earth breaker maul, sending bits of monster flying. Bastion used spray of shooting stars, injuring and dazzling a few of the monsters. Wilbur used Create pit under one of the monsters, sending it crashing down thirty feet. Eldzar sent a rain of fire down the pit but ended too close to it, falling in. Both Nimhe and Zamira noticed an even larger monster and teleported, Nimhe via her belt, and Zamira through the shadows, to end up flanking the giant stitched monstrosity, each getting an attack off. Brandt surrounded the monster with a ring of fire, cooking the beast. Baz the eidolon also reappeared at this moment, informing Brandt the way to safety was up ahead. The group quickly worked their way through the lesser monsters and watched as the giant cooked monster split into two identical monsters, but now spreading out to take on more foes. eventually they brought all of them down and in the following calm, introductions were made.

Brandt gave the group the important details about his past, the fight with the formless creature and the loss of his five companions, one of companion’s arm was found in the stitched monsters form as it burned. He told them the path behind him was broken but these things slipped through after he ran from the strange stitched tornado of lamia and other creatures the Patchwork Man commanded. The group decided to take him along, as they had a shared foe. Eldzar could not stop looking at Brandt with what the party assumed was distrust or distain, Eldzar told them he would go research a few of their other items they needed for the Soul Urns and would come back. He went down a tunnel and disappeared. The group also realized they could not contact the Portal Dwarf and he did not respond to any of the sending spells. 

 The party chose to rest in the church before shrinking it to bring with. Cecil took the first watch and noticed a strange hound like creature that entered the tunnel section with the dead bodies in it. The creature, upon further glance appeared to be a fiery hell hound. The hellhound ate some of the bodies, coughed and vomited up what it had eaten, and ran off into one of the other tunnels. Nimhe took second watch and was warned about the hound, Wilbur took third, neither of their watches were as interesting.

The group had a loose idea of which way the city of Stormcroak was in, using the Puldiver’s compass to help guide them. They journeyed through corridors and worm carved tunnels, eventually finding groups of tunnels that intersected oddly. They eventually found a crossroads with signs pointing to Stormcroak and even found a frogman. Lenard Lemond greeted them and asked if they were on their way to Stormcroak, he sat on a toadstool playing what appeared to be a banjo. The group asked him about the city and the Mithril Net. He informed them they were a few weeks early for the festival in praise for their god that used the net, which currently was in Highcroak Keep, the ruling house of the city. He told them it had been a while since they had had visitors and his cousin Toppa had returned a little while back. Toppa was almost a folk hero to Lenard, having left and come back numerous times whereas Lenard has only been this far from the city.  The group thanked him and made their way to the city of frogmen… Stormcroak.

 

Formless giant surrounded by fire

Battle on two fronts, split form giant

Zamira facing off the Formless giant

Our new ally

Upon a Dark Place Session 18

 

Our session started with a bit of catch up, out heroes had been dealing with the stress of one of their number waking up with nightmares the last few weeks. In his constant dream, Bastion found himself drifting through dirt and stone to a strange cathedral or temple of Ochranna, the goddess he followed. In the darkness of the rock buried structure, he could see in the shadowed recess of the building a strange shape above a void. Strange clicking, resembling chanting was drowned out by the sounds of a oversized beating heart. His vision found the shape in the back of the space and saw it was indeed a giant heart thumping. The chanting and the beating stopped and multiple long spindly legs tore open a seam. This is where Bastion would wake screaming each night.

Bastion was not the only one with subplots rising! Cecil had dreams of oversized dog headed men fighting against a man standing taller than the trees and swinging laughing sword. Wilbur had received word from his brother in Lateia that refugees from other settlements have been arriving, having been driven from their homes by a mysterious group wielding alchemical blue fire. Nimhe had been hearing rumors of a group of gold skinned female warrior humanoids in the south eastern region of the Deep that had been hunting drow. Zamira had been hearing whispers in the wind of Cypher, which seemed to somehow be tied to her dagger and strange siblings. She had also gotten a letter from Drogo, who also had a dagger and was a half-brother to Zamira, telling her he was fine.

We established the group all had housing near each other in the town, for notification purposes it would be easier to find them all in the same place versus sending messengers all over the place. (Nimhe also had another house for privacy and quiet.) We also learned that Bastion lives on Zamira’s couch. In the morning in question Bastion’s screams woke the whole group. Bastion and Zamira talked about the dream a bit, Wilbur hearing from under the building from where he built his underground warren and both Cecil and Nimhe were within earshot as well. Bastion also noticed Eldzar patiently waiting out on the street to be noticed by the group.

Eldzar Salaran, their Kaismir drow elf ally, had a lead to a site that had ties to their common foe, the Formless. It seemed there was some guardians since scouts had gone missing. Bastion asked if it was a church or holy site and surprised Eldzar, who confirmed it was an old temple from the surface brought low ages ago. The only thing they lacked was the exact location. Cue Zamira remembering a strange compass or locket she took of the Puldiver’s Delvers a few months back. By focusing on a location or item the locket can work as a Wayfinder to the item. Useful, they decided also to go to the portal Dwarf for faster travel anyways, the location was on the other side of Halfbuilt, which would take a few weeks to get to otherwise.

Bastion tried to think of any information he could from the dream to give the group clues about what they were dealing with. It had something to do with chittering and something spider like, which seemed to be not something they wanted to deal with. As he attempted to identify the chittering Stonebreaker walked by whistling, or what a bug man would do for whistling, chittering. They called over Stonebreaker to ask him questions about his people and if he knew of this chapel place. He told the group that his people operated with a hive mind. The leader would direct the troops around the caves looking for food and war. Stonebreaker left the hive after getting injured in his head, losing his connection to the colony. He also informed them that his people are really strong but eschew the use of armor, so are pretty easy to hit. The group thanked him for his time and he went back off to guard duty. They planned, had plenty of potions, and grabbed some riding beetles. Still not trusting Eldzar, Cecil rode tandem beetle with him. Bastion led the way with the wayfinder, also he remembered how to get to the Portal Dwarf from there.

After a few hours out of town Bastion noticed a strange hole hastily dug in the ground and a patch of fabric on the cavern wall that did not even match the stonework. Nimhe tossed a pebble at the square, they heard a squeak, and the entire crew descended on the unconscious Kobold bleeding from a head wound. Cecil stole a few gems that had spilled out of its bag and Nimhe quickly administered a healing potion while cradling the kobold in her coils, tenderly. The kobold opened his eyes to a doting group and said hi. The group, feeling terrible they almost ended this tiny creature told him to be careful, someone had attacked him and they were lucky to find him on the edge of death. He told them he was digging up gems, which were rumored to be in the area. Cecil also put the gems he took back, feeling sorry for the little guy, small even by goblin standards. They asked if he knew of the chapel or Ochranna, and he had infomed them he knew neither of those words. The group returned anything they took from the poor lad and sent him off to their city, Cecil telling him to say that he sent him to find safety in the city.

The group continued on, rested for a night, and made it to the Portal Dwarf to be sent off hopefully to the location needed. they passed the familiar golems and entreated with the Portal Dwarf for his skills. Not having the best way of explaining exactly where they needed to go Bastion stepped forward and the Dwarf placed his hands on Bastion’s temples and looked into his mind, seeing their target. He made his portal and the group could see the giant buried temple and a few large sized bug men scurrying around the entrance. He would be able to get them there, and the bartering began. The group wanted him to send a few of his golems along, but he could not send them away like that, they would break apart, since they can not be far from him. Instead, they looked through his portal and he created giant hands of force and squished two of the bugmen together. The group jumped in after and found themselves about fifty feet from the chapel doors, one bug man on the move and possibly more within. The group savagely descended on the remaining bug man and his two allies that came from within the temple. They could here slow clapping from within the structure.

They entered, looking around in the darkness for the source of the clapping, attempting to look intimidating in the process. The clapping died away, being replaced by the sound of thousands of bugs chittering coming from below. The main stretch of the temple was a raised central bridge like structure with a dias on the far end, and in the furthest alcove was where the giant heart should be, but instead of beating, it was now still. The group approached and started across the platform as a huge sized spider with a human body sticking out where the face should have been pulled itself over the side of the bridge and attacked. The group spent the first-round buffing each other with magic and advancing into attack formations on the spider woman thing, sensing there was immense danger. The spider bit Cecil, stripping the enlarge spell from Wilbur and the Wrathful Mantle from Bastion, using them to great effect against the surrounding party. From the darkness where the heart hung a large form entered the fray. It was the largest bugman the party had ever seen, with fire and magic coursing through his chitinous form, he stood over twenty feet tall and breathed out a cone of flame on the party. Zamira and Nimhe took offence at that and teamed up on him whilst the others worked on the spider. Eldzar Salaran took this time to invisibly move to a more advantageous position and toss chain lighting into the foes, seeking to not die at their many hands. Wilbur had upgraded his bombs and used them to great effect on the spider. After a few close calls and Nimhe almost getting swallowed by the immense bug man, the day was won.

In the aftermath the party investigated a strange pool of liquid metal and Bastion was compelled to stick his hands in, seeing visions from his goddess telling him to do so. He took the metal and threw it into the alcove, the metal multiplying and filling the chamber with light and covering up the multitude of terrible holes in the lower part of the chamber dug out by the bugmen. The metal also formed an anvil, still molten, but ready for use. Something else appeared, but we will get to that next time.

Boneyard Haul

 

Greetings everyone! A new set of miniatures has come out from Wizkids Minis… Icon of the Realms set 18 BONEYARD! This is a set of mostly undead monsters with a few random demons and monsters thrown in as well. This will be a shorter post than most but I wanted to share the cool stuff that has come out. I bought 4 boxes against my better judgment. 

Box 1

First we have a Ghast, an advanced type of ghoul with a stench aura affecting each creature within five feet of it as well as granting fellow ghouls within thirty feet advantage on being turned. They are stronger and way more dangerous than a normal ghoul. Then we have our Avatar of Death, summoned when the Skull card is pulled from the Deck of Many Things. Of course, it can also be used as any floaty undead monster as well. Our next mini is the Ochre Jelly, a large ooze creature with the ability to split into two jellies the moment is takes certain kinds of damage. Oozes have been thorns in players sides for years and this is a pretty cool sculpt for one. Ochre Jelly dissolve flesh but leave everything else, other oozes destroy metals, stone, or wood along with flesh. Finally, we have our Skeletal Gnome, or as the bottom states, Skeleton. Undead are terrifying enough, but small undead at times are worse.

Box 2

Ogre Zombie! Our second box started off big. Ogres are always an easy foe for parties to fight, they are strong and resilient, but all their other statistics are lack luster. Make them undead and they gain the ability known as undead fortitude, which allows them to stay standing and fighting unless they fail a saving throw. One ogre zombie can be an issue, multiple ogre zombies a nightmare. Our second miniature was a Death Slaad, a chaotic evil extraplanar frog monster that lay eggs in their enemies to make more slaad. The stronger ones are shape changers, spell casters, and very dangerous. Our next miniature appeared within the pages of the Curse of Strahd adventure, as well as older editions, the Phantom Warrior usually is honor bound to a task. The example they give in the stat block is guarding a wall that it protected in life until another guard can be found. You could even use these as parts of a ghost army, mine might show up as a wraith king unleashed by necromancer when a party failed to stop him. our last miniature was the Demilich. When a lich lives to long and fails to add souls to its phylactery it potentially becomes a demilich. It will normally appear as a floating skull with jeweled teeth and eyes. It has an entire suite of abilities meant to reduce a party to tears by negating their healing, knocking characters down to zero hit points with an action. Variants and older editions had demiliches trapping people within their gemstone teeth. Tough fights. 

Box 3

First mini out of the box was a skeletal archer, again just labeled Skeleton. I really like having skeletal archers in my armies of undeath, luckily, they added them as a common miniature in this set. The sculpt is much better than many of the older models. The next miniature is the Dread Warrior, which appeared in the Dead In Thay adventure which was printed again in the Tales from the Yawning Portal book. Dread Warriors are made by evil wizards to use as spies. Again, they can work as any ghostly undead you are using in your game. Next we had another Ochre Jelly, luckily I also like oozes. Finally we had a goliath zombie, I like that they are branching out in this set and adding in more types of zombies than the standard human looking zombies.

Box 4

Our last box today had two repeats, both the Avatar of Death and the Skeletal Archer, which just adds to my undead horde to vex my players. Our third mini was the Otyugh, one of my all-time favorite monsters. they usually live within garbage piles and unlike many of the monsters can be reasoned with. They are great ambush monsters for when your party fall down a garbage chute, end up in the sewers, or just living in a mad wizard’s lair. Last is our Sword Wraith Warrior, one of the cool transparent miniatures in the set. Sword Wraiths are more melee specialist undead obsessed with honor, the commanders can summon warriors to fight with them. They are less wraith like and more like the wights, since they are corporeal and can’t fly through walls.

This has been a fun set so far and there are so many other miniatures out there to find. Out of the 45 miniatures we have pulled 13, with sets like this repeats still are cool. There are two special miniatures, both a blue and a green Dracolich, which are evil undead dragons, and they are massive. This set also features huge miniature, I did not pull any yet, as well as some absolutely terrifying monsters that will go great in an horror based campaigns you run. This set feels like they are priming us for the next hardcover Dungeons and Dragons book Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft, which returns us to the mist shrouded lands of Ravenloft and will highlight a few other Domains of Dread. I am excited for new class options and new monsters. it will be interesting to see how much is a rehashing of the older Ravenloft material from the late eighties through the nineties.  

 

Hope you all enjoyed! The Boneyard miniatures sets should have hit most of your local game stores! 

Upon a Dark Place Part 4: Sessions 16-17

            Some time had passed again both in game and out, the new town the party had started populating with orphans of the Deep was flourishing. The group found out a few of the current events happening around their new town, which still had no name, as well as met a strange fellow named Dr. Adien Puldiver, an archeologist with a map to the location that supposedly held the final resting place of a displaced and possibly murdered god. The party did some thinking on the Shadow Maze and remembered it was theorized the entire area resided on the plane of shadow, was full of undead, and people went missing if they got too close to it. The group instantly decided to help him, he was too knowledgeable to be dangerous. Plus, the other missions seemed boring.

They accompanied the Dr. and his two allies, a quiet human fellow named Anchor with a large sword, and a troll named Thudds. After buying supplies the group hired out their favorite travel beetle, Black Betty, and headed towards the Shadow Maze. On their way they encountered a large multiple pathed chamber with a colossal spider, which they ran from. They also met some dwarven miners and possibly have set up some trade negations with them.  They eventually made it to the entrance of the Shadow Maze, a large gateway of light eating obsidian. They tested it out and the walls devoured any light they put near it. Beyond was strange orange and red brick walls leading to a t-junction. As they entered, they saw the bricks did not eat their light but they could only see thirty feet ahead of them at all times. They made it to the junction and discussed the proper dungeon exploring way to go and were interrupted by a ghost that came out of the western wall, looked at the party, and floated back into the wall. The group chose to go north, traveling for a few hundred more feet before they noticed a strange glimmer. Dr. Puldiver had Thuds remove his own hand and throw it down the hallway and two stone slabs crushed the detached hand. Zamira could see the mechanism that detected them and with Wilbur’s help found a way to disarm it. the group made their way slowly down the rest of the halls searching for traps. They found another corridor lined with cages and saw a strange small skull within one of them. They were attacked by two small ghost like creatures and came out victorious.

They eventually found their way to a book filled chamber with a strange cloaked undead creature. The Grave Thing greeted them and bid them rest and to share news of the outside world. They found out that many great and powerful things were hidden within the Shadow Maze and what they sought was in the next chamber, the remains of the god Delu. The group set off into the next room and found a colossal room with an eighty-foot-tall suit of armor, the supposed remains of a god. The party approached and could see strange fleshy masses moving around in the shadows and were attacked by a small swarm of gibbering mouthers as well as some kind of strange tentacle beast. As the fight was evolving the troll Thudds kept asking Dr. Puldiver if it was time yet, instantly making the party nervous and suspicious. It seemed their allies had a secondary purpose here. As the aberrations were defeated the Puldiver’s Delvers attacked the party. Anchor dismissed his disguise and the party saw his natural form, an ogre mage. Dr. Puldiver revealed himself to be a rakshasa and flew to the top of the statue and attempted to get inside of it. Nimhe targeted him and pursued rapidly. Thudds the troll and Anchor set to work on the rest of the party. 

There was heated combat with magical spheres smashing Anchor, Thudds died hard, his regeneration unable to keep up with the damage placed upon him. The group watched at Dr. Puldiver made his way to the statue’s visor and placed a hand inside. Bright light filled the chamber, flooding out of the Dr.’s eyes and mouth. Nimhe grabbed him and ripped him away from the power and grabbed it herself. The Dr. flew off trying to escape but Nimhe concentrated the light and disintegrated him, the rest of the group watched on in shock as a feline tail dropped to the ground. The shock turned to horror as Nimhe was overflowing with power and eventually the group was able to talk her out of ultimate power. The group remembered they had a strange scroll from earlier on in the game that would allow them to bring back one creature from death. They were standing before the remains of a dead god and attempted something noble, they resurrected the god Delu, the man within the giant statue. The spell took a while and with a flash of light the scroll was consumed and before them was a naked and confused human looking gentleman, the god made flesh. They took him back to the previous chamber and talked with the Grave thing about what had happened. The undead offered to tutor the godling in history and the group took both of them back to their city.

After a bit of relaxing and rebuilding the group was contacted by one of their guards, it seemed a Kaismir elf had set up a negation table out in one of the corridors leading to town. The group assembled and brought their own table and one of the Udaren golems to carry it. The group placed their table directly in front of the negotiators table and used the golem as a seat. It seemed the Kaismir knew where the new town was and were willing to offer the party a choice, the group could surrender themselves over to the Kaismir for the numerous crimes against them or watch their city burn. The group, not liking to be threatened returned with telling this elf to shove off and die. The negotiations tended to go this way. The elves showed the group the kid from the party’s town they had captured and attempted to use it as leverage, but the group was not swayed. The elf had brought numerous ogres and soldiers with it and was preparing to order them to attack the group when the entire tunnel shook. The party watched in horror as something stitched together from multitudes of corpses came up from behind the elves and ogres. The beast started ripping them to shreds. The negotiator blamed the party for this, but the party only had a faint idea on what this beast was, some sort of Formless agent. The group sent the captured kid and the golem back to town as well to spread warning about the monster. Some of the group moved to help put down the monster while the rest set to killing elves. Two elves made it back towards the town and were captured. Many of the others died to the giant sewn monster. Cecil the goblin barbarian and Bastion the oracle focused on the big monster, Cecil laying into it with his hammer while Bastion tried to plane shift the creature away. The beast seemed to resist the shifting but was taking massive damage and healing itself by absorbing the slain ogres and elves. The negotiator fell to the blades of Zamira and the grapples of Nimhe. Eventually the stitched beast was sent to the positive energy plane by Bastion.

The group went back to town with their two prisoners and locked them up in the town hall. While interrogated one of them mentioned not seeing their spymaster wizard fall during the fray. The group asked if they had a way to contact him and the bolder prisoner told them to take him to the roof. It seemed the wizard had followed them into the city and had been watching the entire time. They arranged to meet with him within a building, Cecil and Zamira watching the prisoners and Bastion and Nimhe going for the negotiation. The wizard walked through the wall and asked if the negotiators could set their weapons aside and he did the same with his casting implements. Over the course of an hour, they negotiated a temporary truce with the elves so they could deal with these Formless monsters that had been attacking everything in the deep. They agreed to team up and also release the two prisoners to the wizard, who was also going to appeal with the Kaismar queen to make the temporary truce possible. Negotations successful, the session ended there. 

We shall see where the roads take us when adventure is had again!

Images created in Heroforge

Upon a Dark Place Part 3: Sessions 11-15

 

The goblins and their constructs set to quick work on the city while the party wandered the town looking for any clues of what had else had happened here. Zamira found an ancient thieves’ guild hiding in plain sight with an odd symbol in a mini temple. Bastion found a temple to his goddess as well as a book of lore about her. The Nimhe found an area of houses build to her standards, and Cecil found an area of forges and some rare metals. The group bartered deals with townsfolk and Engire to finance a few purchases and made a few decisions. The party was going to travel south again to look at Daramander, a city of lamia that lost all of its men after being visited by the patchwork man. They found out someone else was looking for Zamira and might be from her old orphanage. The party also traded in Toppa for Lady Sharn and Tor, knowing their path leads them close to Stormcroak and they have no interest in stopping there. A few characters divulged backgrounds in a way to each other before setting out in to the wild. On their way they heard wolf sized cave crickets and used light to make them flee, right into a giant cavern with oddly shaped holes in the ceiling and strange white filaments hanging down. As crickets touched the filaments they were yanked by filaments and devoured by cave fishers. The group decided to create light and chase the crickets to one side and attempt to flee across the other. The barbarian took off running and the alchemist shot a fisher out of the ceiling as it attempted to grab the barbarian. The force of it caused more cave fishers to fall out of their holes and into the cricket herd. The party then fled and the alchemist guarded them as they made their way across, when it became his time to cross, he shot a cave fisher with another bomb arrow and a pile of burnt and dead fishers fell out the hole and he made his way across the chamber.

They found old almost abandoned dwarven ruins with magical runes and the Burf was able to speak with the door and find out things were inside and not alive. Once inside a golem like creature attacked the party, Burf made the ground under it shifting sands and it almost crushed the Cecil. Once the golem was proved beatable the group noticed another around the corner and Lady Sharn gave Victor a dwarven holy symbol and he caused the remaining stone guardian to return to its alcove. They found an old undead dwarven guardian with a portal and asked him for help and advice, he told them about the formless and showed them the group in a portal. The Formless stood around in a circle in the ruined city of Daramander. The Formless saw the party in the portal scrying device and the guardian panicked and closed it before Bastion could convince the party to jump through. After some consideration the dwarf teleported the party with the portal and the group ended out outside Latiea.

They made their way past all the secret guards and into the sprawling and bustling city. Quickly they were found by a charming street urchin that offered to give them a tour and seemed to be talking about taking them to a pub. When pressed with intimidation found out the urchin was an actor from the Stone Pub and was well into adulthood. For his deception and his being fearful of the Bastion and Zamira he bought the party drinks at a garden bar. Nimhe ate an alcoholic egg of unknown origin. The bar had had the egg pickled for years and no one was brave or drunk enough to eat it. Nimhe resisted the potential poison and was not seriously injured. The rest of the party drank and followed the alchemist to a bar his brother was working at, there were reunions and the party split up to find entertainment where they could. Burf and Cecil went to the fancy bar and after impressing the jerkish bouncer they threw gold over their shoulders and watched as urchins took out him out. They met a pretty elf man and bought mead from him, paying 600 gold a bottle. When they left, they split up, one going to Stone Pub, the other going to Egg bar. At egg bar Zamira and the Bastion saw a blue tiefling, named Blue, sitting at a table, very drunk talking to himself, they sat with him and got more information than required and were able to bluff and deceive him, borrowing his legal documents getting him to the auction coming up within the next few months. Wilbur and Nimhe both stayed the night at the Stone Pub. Everyone slept off the effects of an adventure well had.

In the morning the group was delivered missives to join the leader of Latiea, Lord Nessim at his estate at the center of town at the top of the Lord’s Step. Our new player was playing Tor, the swashbuckling cat person. The group met with a raven headed man named Nassim, he was the “mayor” and an eccentric collector of artifacts and antiquities in the Deep. They asked him numerous questions about magic items and portals as well as having him research the Formless and the Prophet of Flame. He had a contact on the surface world that might have more information on the strange Udaren sun stone they had found awhile back. The party was able to travel to the surface via the Faulty Portal tavern within Rhadamanthus and gained audience with the Radish man, or Robank of Tower Artifacts. They were met in the tavern by Drogo, a tiefling minion of Robanks’ and he led them to Tower Artifacts. They got a rapid tour of the grand city of Rhadamanthus and eventually got to the tower. Robank gave them the other half of the Udaren sun stone and the party has a direction to find the missing culture, once together there was a illuminated map that appeared on the back side. They also asked about terrible monsters known as the formless and learned about Cull and his offshoots. Robank also gave them huge bits of world history. They also stole a carpet from Nessim via Robank’s portal and with help from Barthog. Once they settled things with Nessim they were given info packets from him about the Prophet of Flame and the Formless. They gathered gear and traveled out into the deep to find the path of the Udaren. Their first step took them to a group of Kobolds that told them about a strange troll. They then went and killed the troll, which was an elder troll, or an ancient one. It was a difficult fight but they had the right tools for the job, fire and more fire.

On their travels they met an odd fey creature living in the tunnels and had traveled with him for a bit. This creature stole their food and was attempting to feed it to rocks in a cavern. When the party attempted to intervene, he became agitated and attacked the party, who were then forced to put him down. Zamira dealt the death blow and noticed something in the entryway of the cave, a large imposing figure made of black stone with gold eyes. Four figures also dropped from the ceiling and greeted the party, Bastion cast daylight and the figures started talking in strange floating symbols and also cast daylight. The figures were golden men standing around 7 feet tall and massively muscled. Realizing there was some odd similarity between these men and Bastion they stood down. Avoiding conflict, the party went back with them to their city where they found there were no women or children, just a giant feast, gold lined buildings, and massive pits of black clay. The Udaren, or the People of Telma as they call themselves, had been fighting the drow for many ages from the shadows, the head priest met with the party and revealed history of his people and asked Bastion where he came from, plot and character development was divulged. The party ate at the feast, a few went without food, thinking it to be poisoned. After attempting to flirt up one of the men folk Nimhe was informed that the Udaren, not having females, might not know what sex was. Her night ruined, Nimhe and her allies stayed the night quietly in town and awoke in the morning within the trials.

The Trials started with a massive lake filled with small islands and acid. The acrid smell was almost unbearable, burning their noses. The group noticed a small wooden boat that seemed immune to the acid’s effect but decided to take Bastion’s conjured moonlit bridges, a boon from his oracle of the heaven’s patron. They crossed the bridges, seeing that the acid was alive and attempting to reach around the bridges and pull them under. The group was able to mostly ignore the acid pseudopods, making it to the central island and found a small teleportation circle that took them to the next challenge. They found themselves in a dark room with a large twenty foot tall and wide stone in the center. The stone animated as a huge elemental which attacked the party. Teamwork saved the day, a rare gem was found inside the beast, which teleported them into another room.

The next challenge was a circular room with two cloaked figures sitting in the center. The figures, when they stood, stood over ten foot tall with gaunt skeletal bodies with terrible hollow faces. The creatures, bodaks, attempted to use their undead abilities to drain the life out of the party, but were quickly put down. The last challenge found them in a large chamber with something flapping in the dark. A large two headed skeletal bat monster started its assault. The monster flew around the chamber and breathed fire down upon them. With a series of lucky rolls and demon bat riding the day was won. Again the world shifted and they were standing in a room without any exits with a sacrificial stone slab, a corpse, and a strange glowing liquid filled bowl. The group all drank from the bowl and gained the blessing of Telma.

After the passing of many moons, two or three weeks in game or over a year in the real world, we had an adventure meeting with dire foes and rescued friends. Both Nimhe and Cecil were eager to head to the auction, knowing that their families were being held and sold by the dark dwarves. The party and their ward, Victor the changeling with the perforated neck wound, made their way with their disguises and ill-gotten passes into New Gracklesnap. They quickly saw where the auction was going to be taking place and made their way through the crowds of people making their way across the city. A few of the party noticed the drow slavers moving large flying cages towards the center of town. They also saw a rune scarred copper dragon being led in chains to the holding grounds as well. Bastion made a bridge of light and Zamira, having secured the plans and looking the most regal went up to Blue, the tiefling she had stolen the invites from. Blue, not realizing this was a farce let her see the slaves early, only costing her one thousand gold. She passed a masked drow woman on the way down and saw there were golems protecting the eight cages, each holding about twenty people, a tiefling that seemed familiar, and the dragon. Zamira also found lamia and barbarians matching the people Nimhe and Cecil were looking for.

The party went to the tavern lodgings provided by their free passes and found their room to be quite a bit comfier than expected. They discussed options for a break out, none of them good. Victor showed up to help them, spying, buying items, and sewing confusion were easy tasks for him. While he was out a noble from Stormcroak showed up to talk to Lady A, Zamira’s fake identity. The party panicked trying to figure out what to do with him. He noticed her looking at the slaves and told her to buy light, he intended to get a deal on the unpurchased slaves. He left, bumping into Victor in the hallway. Party chose to attack as soon as possible. Victor helped with additional discord and they noticed the queen of the kaismar elves show up to appraise the slaves. They had to move fast. Something in the city exploded and the guards went to see what happened, the party ran, invisibly with Victors help, and found their way back to the cages. Nimhe unlocked the muzzle styled mask on the dragon’s face and claws. Victor summoned a swarm of rust monsters to eat away the fronts of the cages, the tiefling, revealed to be Drogo again blew up a few guards, the dragon wrestled and body slammed the golems. The party gave Cecil’s barbarians that knew weapons, Nimhe reunited with her mother, and in the chaos a hole broke over the center of the city. A large serpent made of lamia sewn and fused together started breaking its way through the city. The group took their newly freed friends and fled the city. They were stopped at the main gate by a strange Patchwork Man. Bastion brought out his biggest spells to combat this menacing creature from his past. The Patchwork Man used magic to wall off the army of prisoners and battled with the party. His magics were terrifying and eventually they destroyed his form, seeing a mote of light flee from them and come to rest in the giant lamia beast. They fled the city and heard both Drogo and Zamira shouted in rage from somewhere in the city. They made it to a safe place and from headed to the teleporter dwarf wizard. with his help they were able to get the survivors and family back to their town to safety.

Images created in Heroforge